


Too Far Away

by elsewherewolf



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Fluff & Angst, M/M, Sibling Incest, Tumblr: hansencestadvent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-14
Updated: 2014-12-14
Packaged: 2018-03-01 10:58:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2770505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elsewherewolf/pseuds/elsewherewolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A happy ending for the Hansen brothers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Too Far Away

Scott listens to Herc’s breathing slow, feels it on the back of his neck when Herc leans down, rubs his lips over Scott’s scruff. They both groan when Herc pulls out, and Scott covers Herc’s hand briefly, where it squeezes into his hip.

"I’m not goin’ far. Relax."

It’s difficult. Scott shivers when the cold air hits his body, feels the loss of Herc’s warmth like a light going out, and he turns over too fast, gets his feet tangled in the sheets. “Fuck.”

 

"What’s that?"

"Freezing in here. Come back to bed. Come back to  _me_.”

Herc hits the mattress beside him, elbow out, chin in his hand. “Said I’d only be a minute. You’re a mess.” He says it affectionately, dipping his head to kiss Scott’s shoulder.

"You did this. Herc?"

"Yeah?" Herc stops mauling Scott’s throat after another moment’s silence, looks up at him. "Hey, I’m right here. What is it?"

"How fucked are we?"

Herc’s lip quirks, and his gaze travels down the length of Scott’s naked, scratched body. Back up. “Don’t know, I’d say  _you’re_  pretty well fucked, though.”

Scott doesn’t argue. He’s needed this for even longer than Herc’s wanted it, he’s not going to open his big stupid mouth and mess it all up. Not now, not again. They don’t have anything else, only each other, and he can’t stand to be alone in the dark any more.

+

_A New York townhouse, and Scott figured it was about as far from Sydney as it was possible to get, and that maybe that was the reason why Herc had chosen it. He almost told the cabbie to keep the engine running, wasn’t even sure if Herc was home, but there was a light on and he’d come this far._

_He wrapped one arm across his chest, gloved hand pressed up into his armpit, and gingerly made his way up the steps to the front door. It took five minutes of shivering and staring at the door to work up the courage to actually_  knock,  _and another couple before Herc finally answered._

 _He looked wrong. Everything about him seemed too small like it was somewhere far away, and Scott started to reach for him just to make sure he was really_  there,  _stopped himself at the narrowing of Herc’s eyes._

_"What?"_

_"I’m sorry."_

_"For what?"_

_Scott started to say_  for disturbing you,  _but fuck Herc. He’d come this far. “All went a bit wrong there, didn’t it? I was an idiot. No, fuck, I was an arsehole. We were supposed to be heroes.” Scott scrubbed at the back of his head, having to look away from Herc’s eyes. There was nothing there for him, nothing he was meant to see. “I’m sorry for Chuck. Angie, everything.”_

_"Not her. You don’t get to be sorry for that." Herc’s mouth tightened for a moment, and he looked past Scott, out at the street. "What the bloody hell are you doing here, Scott?" Herc still hadn’t moved, his too-far-away frame somehow still filling the doorway, or maybe it was the shadows of ghosts hanging off him._

_"I don’t know. I heard about Chuck, and-"_

_"That was three months ago."_

_"I know. Becket called me. Said you’d fallen off the map, he was worried."_

_"There’s nothing to worry about. I’m fine. But if you want to talk about disappearing acts, why don’t we start with yours?"_

_Scott nodded felt the cold creeping under his scarf, touching his throat. “You’re right. I should’ve come sooner. Wasn’t sure you’d want-“_

_"Bollocks. Fuck off."_

_The door slammed shut._

+

"Should’ve just got one of those plastic things from the store," Scott grumbles, backing in through the front door. "Gonna be finding needles for bloody  _months._ ”

"Worth it," Herc says, swivelling around once they’re in to navigate the tree through to the lounge and its waiting pot. It’s not the biggest, fanciest tree, but it’s real and it’s theirs and those are two things the both of them need. It makes the rest of it feel better, somehow.

They step back together once the tree’s planted, and Herc pulls Scott against his side, admiring it.

"You’re doing the lights," Scott says, and Herc can’t contain the laugh.

"You don’t say."

"Oh, hell yeah. And the trimmings, and the tinsel, and… Thank you." Scott turns, puts his fist in Herc’s coat and pulls him in, a warm kiss that’s sweet and spicy from the hot chai they’d had while tree-shopping.

Herc trails the kiss across Scott’s cheek, nips at his ear. “What for?”

"The tree. Christmas. Being here."

"Yeah, well. Same to you." Herc starts to move away, embarrassment warring with something else he still can’t quite name, but Scott holds on, keeps him there. Close. It’s taken Herc a while to learn that Scott doesn’t like to be too far away from him, and maybe sometimes it’s a little too much but if Herc’s honest with himself, he likes it. Maybe Scott thinks that he’s the one who saved Herc from himself. Most of the time, Herc’s pretty sure it’s the other way around.

"Lunch before we trim this monstrosity?" Scott asks.

"Fuck off, it’s not that bad. Only lost one branch on the way here. Small one, round the back, won’t notice it."

Scott’s grinning, pushing his hand inside Herc’s coat, following the planes of Herc’s chest through his sweater. “Fool around by the fire when we’re done, eh?”

+

_Scott stood on the top step, staring at the door again, at a loss. What was he supposed to do next? Make a scene, hammer on the door until Herc came back out, listened to him?_

_He’d played the scenario out in his head any number of times, and it had pretty much always ended this way, but he’d never planned for it. Not really._

_When the door opened again, Scott was sitting further down the steps, his arse numb from the cold, his fingers slowly going the same way. Herc sat the other side of the step, looking tired._

_"You could’ve called first."_

_"Yeah. But I always did make the dick moves."_

_"Fucking missed you, Scotty."_

_"I thought, if I could, if I could just show up here then you’d open the door and Chuck would be right there behind you calling you old and if he was somehow still_  real,  _everything would be okay. I’d know.” Scott swallowed, looked over at his brother. “I was there when he was born, I miss him too. I’m sorry, it’s not the same, but… christ, I thought this would be easier somehow. I just wanted to be a hero. Yours, or- or something.”_

_"I’m okay, you know. I’m not drinking myself to sleep every night like dad used to, I’m not broken. It’s over now. Look at what we’ve saved."_

_"I should never have-"_

_"We’ve all done stupid fucking things in our lives, Scott." Herc rubbed his hands together, clasped them between his knees. "I shouldn’t have let you go so far." There was a pause, and Scott could feel Herc starting to take their walls down, brick by brick. "I love you, y’know. Just like before."_

_"Really?"_

_Herc sighed deeply, his breath a puff of white in the air.  ”Come inside.  Before we both freeze out here.”_

+

"Merry Christmas," Herc says, stroking his fingers through Scott’s hair as his brother comes to.

Scott blinks, groaning and turning one way then the other, rubs at his left eye. “Time is it?”

"Seven thirty, round about. Doesn’t matter. Time’s completely irrelevant on Christmas day, remember?"

"I said that, didn’t I?"

"Yeah, the year you woke me up at three in the morning to tell me Santa had been." Herc smiles, bends to kiss Scott softly on the mouth. "Santa’s been," he murmurs, enjoys the warmth of Scott’s laughter against his lips.

"Cold. Warmer in here."

"You want me to bring your gifts to you?"

Scott’s grin gets wider, and Herc can only roll his eyes.

"Lazy fucker. I’ll bring you  _one._  The rest can wait.”

Scott sits up while Herc’s gone, reaches for the sweater that wound up on the floor beside their bed last night and pulls it over his head because it really  _is_  cold outside the duvet. Weird, to be cold on Christmas morning, but it’s something he’ll get used to. He hears Herc coming back up the stairs, watches his brother come back in the room and he knows how he must look, loves that Herc doesn’t give a shit any more. That this is them, now.

Herc sits on the edge of the bed, presses a small box into Scott’s hand.

"Thought you’d never ask," Scott jokes, though he’s trembling as he starts on the paper because Herc doesn’t make any kind of smartass comeback. He’s just still, silent, bigger than Scott and beautifully solid. Scott doesn’t know why he ever thought Herc could fall apart.

It’s a ring. Scott lifts it from the cushion it rests on, looks curiously at Herc. “You know we can’t actually-“

"I know. I kept some of the scrap from Lucky, got it melted down and made… it doesn’t matter. Something good, out of all the mistakes we made. It’s us, and I wanted…"

"You arsehole," Scott mumbles, throwing his arm around Herc’s shoulders, pressing as close as he can get. "Stop being so bloody perfect." It’s muffled against Herc’s neck, but Scott knows he hears, feels the laughter.

"Okay?"

Scott knows Herc doesn’t mean the gift, and he nods. “Yeah. Love you.”


End file.
